


and its (thorns) had the fight

by noirshitsuji



Series: (new york city is) insidious [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fainting, Flower Language, Gen, Identity Reveal, Post-NYC special, Roses, Saying things without actually saying things, Unresolved Romantic Tension, White Rose - Freeform, Yellow Rose - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27336970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noirshitsuji/pseuds/noirshitsuji
Summary: Marinette finds a rose in her locker three weeks after New York.“Yellow,” the note says, in neat but artificial handwriting (and she knows it’s artificial because she knows her fonts, can recognise an imitation of Victoria when she sees it), “for a perfect friendship.”Marinette faints.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: (new york city is) insidious [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953754
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65





	and its (thorns) had the fight

When she wakes up in the nurse’s office, she can see a shock of blond hair on the bed next to the lamp above her. Her upper body bolts up right before her head gets cleared, her vision going black before her mind can catch up and tell her to  _ slow down– _

“Marinette,” Adrien says, holding her by the shoulders,  _ keeping me from falling hard on my back again,  _ she realises as green eyes, somehow both frantic and chillingly controlled, find her own. 

Her now vaguely-there sense of her surroundings tells her he is sitting to her right, on a bed in the nurse’s office, the latter not being in the room itself.

(Her eyes can’t leave his so she can't be sure, but she doesn’t think he’d dare stare for this long,  _ hold her _ for this long, if there had been anyone else in the room).

“Are you okay?” His voice is concerned, but still so unsettlingly controlled she has to grip her sheets to stop herself from running. She blinks at him for a few moments, “Yeah, I think I am–”

(–It’s a lie, but she suspects she doesn’t need to tell him that–)

“–did I faint?”

“You did. Right in front of your locker.” Marinette thinks she can see slits in his eyes instead of pupils. “Good thing I was there to catch you, eh?”

“Yeah,” she replies, echoing herself, but there is nothing more that she can do now, not with the way he’s looking at her. 

(Cats don’t care about ladybugs in that way, but they do hunt mice. 

The question is – what is she  **now** ?)

“Did you like the rose?” His hands have slid slightly down her arms, but remain there. His eyes have not wavered.

“Was it from you?” she replies, uselessly, but she wants to stop this, wants to stop it so badly– 

“Yes,” he says, quietly, pointedly,  _ my lady– _

Marinette feels like the lights are dimmer than they should be,  _ but tunnel vision will do that to a person, no? _

Marinette thinks about yellow, and she thinks about Victoria, the queen and the era, and she thinks about roses, and she says–

“I prefer them white.”

Adrien shrugs. “I’ll keep it in mind for next time,” and he smiles at her and it looks just like on the posters, but his tone is a little too dry, a little too tired, and he gets up and she only now realises he’s let her go, but she doesn’t want to run away from him anymore. The fight has escaped her. 

“I can hear the nurse approaching the corridor,” he says, perfectly casual, perfectly in-character, as if the office isn’t to the other end of the twenty-meter long corridor, “and I need to get to fencing practice.” His smile turns soft, and Marinette can’t be sure it’s an act because she’s seen him with Kagami before and he’s never unnatural around (and about) her, but she thinks she can see his ears twitching and she wants to do anything  _ but  _ run away from this–

“Bye,” she says, simply, and he echoes.

– _ but I already did, didn’t I? _

And then he is gone.

Marinette reaches for the table blindly, eyes still fixed on the door. When she looks down at it, she has three new texts from Luka.

(Only after she gets home does she realise the rose is in her bag. It’s crushed. 

She doesn’t know what metaphor she’s looking for in that.)

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be happier than, well, _this_ , I think. (Also I have no idea how to tag it, somebody please help.) Had to change the original lyric from Hozier, too, because it didn't quite fit. Ah, well.
> 
> [Apparently](https://www.rosesonly.co.uk/blogs/ideas/rose-colors-and-their-meanings), in Victorian times yellow roses signified "dying love stemming from infidelity and jealousy', while white ones represented 'purity, loyalty, and innocence' (and I suppose the undying love thing comes from the fact that Queen Victoria herself was apparently the one to first have a bouquet of them on her wedding, and we all know how that story goes). Interestingly enough, white roses also used to represent the House of York, which was on one side of one of England's bloodiest civil wars; so, you know, _potentially lethal fights_ and loyalty, the true Ladynoir dynamic.
> 
> I love reading the feedback on my fics, so feel free to tell me what you think below or reach out to me on [Tumblr](https://noirshitsuji.tumblr.com/).


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